Data-aggregation graphical user interfaces

ABSTRACT

The disclosed embodiments include computer-implemented devices and processes that generate, present, and manipulate data-aggregating graphical user interfaces. For example, a network-connected device may generate a first interface element representative of an obligation and may display, through a display unit, an graphical user interface that includes the first interface element and a plurality of second interface elements representative of time periods available for resolving the obligation. The network-connected device may receive, from an input unit, first input data indicative of a selection of the first interface element and second input data indicative of a movement of the selected first interface element from the first position to a second position within the interface. The network-connected device may associate the second position with a corresponding one of the second interface elements, and in response to the association, schedule the obligation for resolution during the time period represented by the corresponding second interface element.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments generally relate to computer-implementedsystems and processes that generate, present, and perform operationsinvolving data-aggregating graphic user interfaces.

BACKGROUND

Many graphical user interfaces, including those that support electronicpayment services and financial transactions, present data to users intabular format across multiple interface screens. This tabular datarepresentation often leads to data misinterpretation by users and mentalcapture errors as users scroll from screen to screen to access variousinterface functionalities.

SUMMARY

The disclosed embodiments include, among other things,computer-implemented processes that aggregate data obtained frommultiple sources into a single graphical user interface (GUI), which mayenable a user to interact with the aggregated data in an intuitive wayand perform operations on the aggregated data through that single GUI.For example, and in accordance with certain of the disclosedembodiments, a device may include a display unit, an input unit, astorage unit storing instructions, and at least one processor coupled tothe display unit, the input unit, and the storage unit. The at leastprocessor may be configured to execute the instructions to generate afirst interface element representative of an obligation and display, onthe display unit, an interface that includes the first interface elementand a plurality of second interface elements. In one aspect, the firstinterface element may be disposed at a first position within theinterface, and the second interface elements may be representative oftime periods available for resolving the obligation. The at leastprocessor may be further configured to execute the instructions toreceive first input data from an input unit indicative of a selection ofthe first interface element, receive second input data from the inputunit indicative of a movement of the selected first interface elementfrom the first position to a second position within the interface, andestablish an association between the second position of the selectedfirst interface element and a corresponding one of the second interfaceelements. In response to the established association, the at leastprocessor may be further configured to execute the instructions toperform operations that schedule the obligation for resolution duringthe time period represented by the corresponding second interfaceelement.

In other embodiments, a computer-implemented method may generate, by atleast one processor, a first interface element representative of anobligation, and display, by the at least one processor, and on a displayunit coupled to the at least one processor, an interface that includesthe first interface element and a plurality of second interfaceelements. In one aspect, the first interface element may be disposed ata first position within the interface, and the second interface elementsmay be representative of time periods available for resolving theobligation. The method may also include the steps of receiving, by theat least one processor, first input data from an input unit indicativeof a selection of the first interface element, receiving, by the atleast one processor, second input data from the input unit indicative ofa movement of the selected first interface element from the firstposition to a second position within the interface, and establishing, bythe at least one processor, an association between the second positionof the selected first interface element and a corresponding one of thesecond interface elements. In response to the established association,the method may also perform, by the at least one processor, operationsthat schedule the obligation for resolution during the time periodrepresented by the corresponding second interface element.

Further, and in additional embodiments, a tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium may store instructions that, when executed byat least one processor, perform a method that include generating a firstinterface element representative of an obligation, and displaying, on adisplay unit coupled to the at least one processor, an interface thatincludes the first interface element and a plurality of second interfaceelements. In one aspect, the first interface element may be disposed ata first position within the interface, and the second interface elementsmay be representative of time periods available for resolving theobligation. The method may also include the steps of receiving, by theat least one processor, first input data from an input unit indicativeof a selection of the first interface element, receiving, by the atleast one processor, second input data from the input unit indicative ofa movement of the selected first interface element from the firstposition to a second position within the interface, and establishing, bythe at least one processor, an association between the second positionof the selected first interface element and a corresponding one of thesecond interface elements. In response to the established association,the method may also perform, by the at least one processor, operationsthat schedule the obligation for resolution during the time periodrepresented by the corresponding second interface element.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed. Further, theaccompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a partof this specification, illustrate aspects of the present disclosure andtogether with the description, serve to explain principles of thedisclosed embodiments as set forth in the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary computing environment, consistentwith disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a portion of an exemplary computingenvironment, consistent with the disclosed embodiments.

FIGS. 3A-3C are diagrams of exemplary graphical user interfaces,consistent with the disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an additional portion of an exemplarycomputing environment, consistent with the disclosed embodiments.

FIGS. 5A-5E are diagrams of exemplary graphical user interfaces,consistent with the disclosed embodiments.

FIGS. 6A-6C are diagrams of exemplary graphical user interfaces,consistent with the disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for scheduling eventsusing data-aggregating graphical user interfaces, in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the disclosed embodiments,examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The samereference numbers in the drawings and this disclosure are intended torefer to the same or like elements, components, and/or parts.

In this application, the use of the singular includes the plural unlessspecifically stated otherwise. In this application, the use of “or”means “and/or” unless stated otherwise. Furthermore, the use of the term“including,” as well as other forms such as “includes” and “included,”is not limiting. In addition, terms such as “element” or “component”encompass both elements and components comprising one unit, and elementsand components that comprise more than one subunit, unless specificallystated otherwise. Additionally, the section headings used herein are fororganizational purposes only, and are not to be construed as limitingthe described subject matter.

This specification describes exemplary computer-implemented processesthat aggregate data obtained from multiple sources into a singlegraphical user interface (GUI), which may enable the user to interactwith the aggregated data in an intuitive way and perform operations onthe aggregated data through that single GUI. The single GUI may, forexample, aggregate and present data identifying one or more obligationsof the user concurrently with data identifying dates or times availablefor resolving the obligations, and the single GUI may be presented by adevice operated by the user through a corresponding display unit, suchas a liquid-crystal display. In some aspects, by providing input to thedevice, e.g., through a corresponding input unit, that selectivelyarranges certain interface elements within the single GUI, the user mayestablish a schedule for resolving one or more of the obligations oncorresponding ones of the available dates or time. Further, and asdescribed below, the device may present additional interface elementswithin that single GUI that facilitate the user's visualization of notonly the established schedule for resolving the one or obligations, butalso temporal relationships between the scheduled resolutions andoccurrences of other events that impact or are associated with the user.

In one embodiment, an obligation may correspond to an act or course ofaction which user 101 is bound to perform by mutual agreement with oneor more counterparties. In some instances, obligations consistent withthe disclosed embodiments may require the user to transfer funds to acounterparty in exchange for products purchased by the user during aparticular time period, in exchange for resources consumed by the userduring the particular time period, or in exchange for serviced renderedto the user by the counterparty during that particular time period.Additionally, the obligation may be associated with a correspondingdeadline, which may establish a date or time before which the obligationmust be resolved to the satisfaction of the counterparty. In someaspects, one or more of the exemplary GUIs described below may includeinterface elements that indicate, to the user, a relationship between ascheduled resolution of an obligation, e.g., on a user-specified date ortime, and a corresponding deadline associated with that obligation.

For example, the user may hold a credit-card account (e.g., a Visa™credit card) issued by a corresponding financial institution, which maygenerate and provide to the user a monthly invoice outlining the user'sobligation to pay at least a minimum monthly payment by a correspondingdue date. In other instances, the user may hold a mortgage on aresidence, and the terms of the mortgage may obligate the user totransfer, to a financial institution, funds in accordance with aspecified repayment schedule. Additionally, the user may receive monthlyinvoices from various utilities, such as municipal electrical, water,telephone, and/or gas utilities, that obligate the user to submitpayment to the utilities by a specified date for the user's consumptionof resources (e.g., units of consumed electricity, water, or gas) duringa prior metering period. The user may also enter into service agreementswith wireless providers and cable companies, which may obligate the userto pay monthly fees for accessed wireless spectrum and/or consumeddigital content. The disclosed embodiments are not limited to theseexemplary obligations, and in further aspects, obligations consistentwith the disclosed embodiments may include any additional or alternaterecurring or one-time obligation, such as a monthly payment on a vehicleloan, payments supporting a recurring person-to-person (P2P)transaction, and recurring payments that cover tickets to varioussporting events.

I. Exemplary Computing Environments

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary computing environment 100,consistent with certain disclosed embodiments. In some aspects, asillustrated in FIG. 1, environment 100 may include one or more devices,such as device 102, one or more computer systems associated withfinancial institutions, such as financial institution system 130, andone or more computer systems associated with third-party businessentities, such as third-party computing systems 140, each of which maybe interconnected through any appropriate combination of communicationsnetworks, such as network 120. Examples of network 120 include, but arenot limited to, a wireless local area network (LAN), e.g., a “Wi-Fi”network, a network utilizing radio-frequency (RF) communicationprotocols, a Near Field Communication (NFC) network, a wirelessMetropolitan Area Network (MAN) connecting multiple wireless LANs, and awide area network (WAN), e.g., the Internet.

In an embodiment, device 102 may be associated with a user, e.g., user101, and may correspond to a computing device that includes one or moretangible, non-transitory memories that store data and/or softwareinstructions, and one or more processors configured to execute thesoftware instructions. The one or more tangible, non-transitory memoriesmay, in some aspects, store software applications, application modules,and other elements of code executable by the one or more processors,such as web browsers and other applications provided by or associatedwith various entities, such as those associated with and that maintainfinancial institution system 130 and third-party computing systems 140.In additional aspects, the one or more tangible, non-transitory memoriesmay also store, among other things, obligation data that identifies oneor more obligations associated with user 101, calendar data thatidentifies one or more days available for resolving obligations within apredetermined or user-specified time period, scheduling data thatidentifies a user-specified schedule for resolving the one or moreobligations, payment data identifying payment instruments or fundingsources available for user in resolving the obligations, and anyadditional or alternate data that supports the computer-implementedprocesses for generating, presenting, and manipulating the exemplaryinterfaces described below.

Device 102 may also include a display unit that displays information touser 101 and additionally or alternatively, an input unit that to allowuser 101 to input information to device 102 (e.g., a keypad, keyboard,capacitive overlays, voice-activated control technologies, or any othertype of known input device). In one aspect, the display unit and inputunit may be incorporated into a single interface unit that displays theinformation to user 101 and also allows user 101 to input information todevice 102. For example, the display unit may correspond to aliquid-crystal display (LCD) unit, and the input device may correspondto a capacitive overlay disposed on a surface of the LCD unit (e.g., ona corresponding LCD screen) to form the interface unit (e.g., apressure-sensitive, touchscreen interface unit). In other aspects, andconsistent with the disclosed embodiments, the input unit may include akeypad, keyboard, mouse, microphone, or other input device appropriateto device 102, and device 102 may include a display unit that isseparate and distinct from the input unit.

Additionally, device 102 may include a communications module, such as awireless transceiver device, coupled to the one or more processors andconfigured by the one or more processors to establish and maintaincommunications with network 120 using any of a number of communicationsprotocols, which include, but are not limited to, Internet Protocol (IP)communications protocols, Hypertext Transfer (HTTP) communicationsprotocol, near-field communications (NFC) protocols, and othercommunications protocols appropriate to device 102 and to network 120.In further instances, device 102 may also include a digital camera,which may be coupled to the one or more processors and configured by theone or more processes to capture digital images of bills or otherinvoices representative of obligations held by user 101.

Examples of device 102 may include, but are not limited to, a personalcomputer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, ahand-held computer, a personal digital assistant, a portable navigationdevice, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a wearable computing device(e.g., a smart watch, a wearable activity monitor, wearable smartjewelry, and glasses and other optical devices that include opticalhead-mounted displays (OHMDs), an embedded computing device (e.g., incommunication with a smart textile or electronic fabric), and any othertype of computing device that may be configured to store data andsoftware instructions, execute software instructions to performoperations, and/or display information on an display unit, consistentwith disclosed embodiments. In some instances, user 101 may operatedevice 102 and may do so to cause device 102 to perform one or moreoperations consistent with the disclosed embodiments.

Financial-institution system 130 and third-party systems 140 may, insome aspects, represent corresponding computer systems configured toexecute software instructions (e.g., one or more executable applicationsor application modules) that perform operations consistent withdisclosed embodiments. For example, financial institution system 130 maybe maintained by a financial institution, which may issue paymentinstruments held by user 101, such as credit cards or debit cards, andwhich hold financial services accounts on behalf of user 101, such aschecking, savings, or brokerage account. In certain instances, and asdescribed below, financial-institution system 130 may perform operationsthat, in response to a request transmitted from device 102, authenticateuser 101 based on obtained authentication credentials and further,provide data to device 102 that identifies one or more obligationsassociated with user 101 (e.g., data identifying monthly invoices forcredit-card accounts issued by the financial institution) andadditionally or alternatively, data identifying one or more paymentinstruments (e.g., credit cards, debit cards, etc.) and funding sources(e.g. checking, savings, and/or brokerage accounts) issued or held bythe financial institution and available to resolve the obligations.

Further, in some aspects, one or more of third-party systems 140 may bemaintained by a third-party business, governmental, or regulatory entityassociated with a one-time or recurring obligation involving user 101,and additionally or alternatively, associated with a one-time orrecurring event that impacts user 101. In certain instances, and asdescribed below, third-party systems 140 may perform operations that, inresponse to a request transmitted from device 102, authenticate user 101based on obtained authentication credentials and further, provide datato device 102 that identifies one or more obligations associated withuser 101 and additionally or alternatively, one or more events thatimpact user 101.

For example, one or more of third-party systems 140 may be maintained bya business entity, such as a gym that charges user 101 a recurringmonthly membership fee or a professional team that charges user 101recurring monthly fees for a season-ticket package. Additionally oralternatively, third-party systems 140 may be maintained by agovernmental or regulatory entity, such as a tax authority that imposesupon user 101 a one-time or recurring consumption tax, or a utility thatissues monthly invoices that account for a consumption of resources byuser 101 during a prior metering period. In other instances, one or moreof third-party systems 140 may be maintained by a payroll service, whichmay deposit wages into a financial services account of user 101 inaccordance with a predetermined schedule, e.g., on the 15^(th) and30^(th) day of each month. The disclosed embodiments are not limited tothese exemplary business, governmental, and regulatory entities, and inother aspects, one or more of third-party systems 140 may be maintainedby any additional or alternate entity that associated with obligationsor events that involve or impact user 101, which may be resolved usingthe exemplary processes and graphical user interfaces described below.

In one instance, financial-institution and third-party systems 130 and140 may include one or more servers and tangible, non-transitory memorydevices storing executable code and application modules. Further, theservers may include one or more processor-based computing devices, whichmay be configured to execute portions of the stored code or applicationmodules to perform operations consistent with the disclosed embodiments,including operations consistent with the exemplary micropaymentsettlement processes described herein. In other instances, andconsistent with the disclosed embodiments financial-institution system130 and/or third-party systems 130 and 140 may correspond to adistributed system that may include computing components distributedacross one or more networks, such as network 120, or other networks,such as those provided or maintained by cloud-service providers.

II. Exemplary Computer-Implemented Processes for Generating, Presenting,and Resolving Events Data-Aggregating Graphical User Interfaces

In certain embodiments, a network-connected device, e.g., device 102 ofFIG. 1, may perform operations to generate a graphical user interface(GUI) that identifies not only one or more outstanding obligations heldby a user, e.g., user 101, but also temporal relationships betweenscheduled resolutions of these outstanding obligations, one or moredeadlines associated with these outstanding obligations, and further,additional events that impact user 101 during a corresponding timeperiod. Device 102 may, in some instances, be configured to present thegenerated GUI through a corresponding display unit, and user 101 mayprovide, through a corresponding input unit, input to device 102 thatselectively arranges certain interface elements within the presented GUIto specify the schedule for resolving corresponding ones of theoutstanding obligations and further, to specify sources of funding forthe resolved obligations.

As described above, an obligation may correspond to an act or course ofaction to which user 101 is bound to perform by mutual agreement withone or more counterparties, and an outstanding obligation may refer toan obligation that requires an appropriate resolution, e.g., theperformance of the corresponding act or course of action by user 101. Inone instance, an outstanding obligation may require user 101 to transferfunds to one or more counterparties in exchange for products purchasedduring a particular prior time period, in exchange for resourcesconsumed during the particular prior time period, or in exchange forserviced rendered by the one or more counterparties during thatparticular prior time period. By way of example, the required transferof funds may correspond to a payment transaction initiated by device102, either alone or in conjunction with other network-connectedcomputer systems, in satisfaction of a bill or an invoice issued by theone or more counterparties, which may be associated with a correspondingpayment deadline.

In some aspects, and referring to FIG. 2, an aggregation module 202 ofdevice 102 may perform operations that poll one or morenetwork-connected computer systems, such as financial-institution system130 and third-party systems 140 of FIG. 1, for obligation data thatidentifies and characterizes outstanding obligations held by user 101.For example, aggregation module 202 may generate requests for theobligation data that identify device 102 (e.g., through a unique deviceidentifier, such as a MAC address, or a unique network identifier, suchas an IP address) and additionally or alternatively, that specify one ormore authentication credentials of user 101, such as an alpha-numericlogin or password assigned to user 101 or a biometric credentialassociated with user 101, which user 101 may provide as input to device102 during an initial authentication process (not depicted in FIG. 2).Device 102 may, in certain instances, transmit the generated requestsacross network 120 to corresponding ones of financial-institution system130 and third-party systems 140.

Financial-institution system 130 and third-party systems 140 may receivethe transmitted requests from device 102, and may perform operationsthat authenticate device 102 (e.g., based on the device or networkidentifier) and/or user 101 (e.g., based on the authenticationcredentials), and generate portions of information, e.g., obligationinformation 201A, that identify and characterize one or more obligationsinvolving the financial institutions and business entities that maintaincorresponding ones of financial-institution system 130 and third-partysystems 140. For example, the financial institution may issue a Visa™credit card held by user 101, and may bill user 101 on a monthly basisfor charges on the credit-card account incurred during a prior billingperiod. Additionally, in some instances, the financial institution mayalso hold a mortgage on user 101's residence, and may invoice user 101for monthly mortgage payment in accordance with a predeterminedrepayment schedule.

In other instances, one or more of third-party systems 140 may beassociated with a utility company, such as local electrical, water, ornatural-gas utility, which may invoice user 101 on a monthly orbi-monthly basis for units of electricity, water, or natural gasconsumed during a prior metering period. Additionally or alternatively,one or more of third-party systems 140 may be associated with a wirelessprovider or a cable company, which may invoice user 101 on a monthlybasis for accessed wireless spectrum and/or consumed digital content inaccordance with one or more service agreements. Further, and in certaininstances, one or more of third-party systems 140 may be associated witha payroll service that deposits funds into one or more financialservices accounts held by user 101 in accordance with a predeterminedschedule, such as a deposit of bi-weekly wages on the 15^(th) and30^(th) day of each month. The disclosed embodiments are not limited tothese exemplary third-party systems, and in other aspects, third-partysystems 140 may be include a computer system maintained by anyadditional or alternate business, governmental, or regulatory entityassociated with obligations or events that involve or impact user 101.

Referring back to FIG. 2, financial-institution system 130 andthird-party systems 140 may transmit the generated portions ofobligation information 201A across network 120 to device 102. In someinstances, aggregation module 202 may receive obligation information201A, and may perform operations to process obligation information 201Aand extract data that identifies one or more outstanding obligationsheld by user 101, e.g., obligation data 203, which aggregation module202 may provide to an interface generation module 204 of device 102.

The disclosed embodiments are, however, not limited to processes thatobtain portions of obligation data (e.g., obligation data 201A) from oneor more network-connected computer systems, such asfinancial-institution system 130 and third-party systems 140. In otherinstances, user 101 may receive physical copies of bills or invoicesgenerated by one or more of a financial institution, a business entity,a governmental entity, or a regulatory entity. For instance, thesephysical bills or invoices may include information that identifies user101 (e.g., a corresponding account number that uniquely identifies user101), amounts associated with the underlying obligations, deadlines forresolving the obligations, and additionally or alternatively,instructions for resolving the obligations (e.g., instructions forremitting payment, etc.).

Referring back to FIG. 2, user 101 may provide input to device 102(e.g., through an input unit 206B) that causes a digital camera, such asdigital camera 220, to capture image data 201B of the physical copies ofthe bills or invoices, which may be provided to aggregation module 202.Aggregation module 202 may, in certain aspects, perform operations thatapply one or more image processing techniques and/or optical characterrecognition (OCR) techniques to captured image data 201B to identify theoutstanding obligations associated with the physical copies of bills orinvoices, and to generate additional portions of obligation data 203that correspond to each of the outstanding obligations, whichaggregation module 202 may provide to interface generation module 204.

By way of example, obligation data 203 may identify each of the one ormore outstanding obligations, and for each outstanding obligation,specify a unique identifier that associated user 101 with theoutstanding obligation (e.g., an account number assigned to user 101 bythe financial institution, business entity, governmental entity, and/orregulatory entity), an amount associated with the outstandingobligation, a deadline for resolving the outstanding obligation, andadditionally or alternatively, instructions for resolving theoutstanding obligation (e.g., instructions for remitting payment, etc.).In other instances, and consistent with the disclosed embodiments,obligation data 203 may also include event data that identifies one ormore additional events impacting user 101 (e.g., distributions ofweekly, bi-weekly, or monthly wages to a financial services account heldby user 101) and further, that specifies one or more scheduledoccurrences of the events (e.g., a scheduled distribution date of thewages) and one or more event parameters (e.g., an amount of thedistributed wages, etc.). For example, one or more of third-partysystems 140 may be associated with a payroll service that manages adistribution of wages to user 101 on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthlyschedule, and device 102 may obtain potions of the event data from thecorresponding one of third-party systems 140 using any of the exemplaryprocesses described above.

In some aspects, interface generation module 204 may perform operationsthat generate interface elements representative of each of theidentified outstanding obligations held by user 101 and each of theidentified events that impact user 101, and further, that map thegenerated interface elements to corresponding positions within agraphical user interface (GUI), which device 102 may present to user 101through a corresponding display unit 206A. By way of example, and asdescribed above, display unit 206A may include a LCD unit, and inputdevice 206B may correspond to a capacitive overlay disposed on a displaysurface of the LCD unit to form an integrated interface unit, such as apressure-sensitive, touchscreen interface unit capable of rendering thegenerated interface elements for presentation at the correspondingpositions within the GUI (e.g., through integrated display unit 206A)and receiving input from user 101 that responds to and manipulates thepresented interface elements (e.g., through integrated input unit 206B).In other instances, display unit 206A and input unit 206B may beseparate and distinct, and input device 206B may include any additionalor alternate input device capable of receiving input from user 101, suchas an additional touchscreen input device, a keyboard, a keypad, or amicrophone.

Interface generation module 204 may, in certain instances, access dataspecifying dimensions of a surface of the pressure-sensitive,touchscreen display unit, which interface generation module 204 mayprocess to generate the interface elements and map the generatedinterface elements to corresponding positions within the GUI, and thus,to corresponding presentation positions on display-unit surface.Additionally, and in some aspects, interface generation module 204 mayalso establish element sizes for each of the generated interfaceelements (e.g., based on a scaling of a predetermined element size inaccordance with the dimensions of the display-unit surface), andestablish values of one or more presentation characteristics, such asuser-specified or predetermined elements colors, fonts or shadings.

In some aspects, interface generation module 204 may generate data,e.g., interface data 205, that includes the generated interface elements(and data specifying the established sizes and values of presentationcharacteristics) and the generated mapping data, which correlates thegenerated interface elements to corresponding presentation positionswithin the GUI and on the display-unit surface. Interface generationmodule 204 may provide interface data 205 to display unit 206A, whichmay render the generated interface elements for presentation to user 101within a corresponding GUI, e.g., GUI 207.

As described below, in response to the presentation of GUI 207, user 101may provide input data, e.g., input 208, to device 102 through inputunit 206B (e.g., touch-based input provided to the display-unit surfaceof the pressure-sensitive, touchscreen display unit). In some aspects,input 208 may reflect a selective manipulation of the positions of oneor more interface elements within presented GUI 207 by user 101, and aselection module 210 of device 102 may process input 108, either aloneor in conjunction with mapping data 209, to characterize the selectivemanipulation of the one or more interface elements. Based on thecharacterization of that selective manipulation, selection module 210may identify one or more of the outstanding obligations selected by user101 for resolution using scheduling processes consistent with thedisclosed embodiments, and further, establish a consent of user 101 toschedule the resolution of the selected obligations using any of theprocesses described below.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, device 102 may present GUI 207through display unit 206A, which may correspond to thepressure-sensitive, touchscreen interface unit having a display-unitsurface 110. In some aspects, presented GUI 207 may include interfaceelements 312, 314, 316, 318, 320, and 322, each of which correspond toan outstanding obligation held by user 101 and identified by device 102using any of the processes described above. For example, interfaceelement 312 may represent a wireless bill generated by Rogers™Communications, which may be associated with a $45 monthly service feeand a due date of Nov. 27, 2016. Further, and by way of example,interface element 314 may represent a monthly bill for a Visa™ creditcard account held by user 101, which may associated with a minimumpayment of $85 due on or before Nov. 30, 2016, and interface element 316may represent a recurring peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction that transfers$25 in funds from a financial services account of user 101 to an accountheld by an additional user on the fifteenth day of each month.Additionally, in some instances, interface element 318 may represent arecurring monthly mortgage payment of $2,850, which is due one or beforeDec. 10, 2016, interface element 320 may represent a monthly electricbill in the amount of $30, which may be due to a local electricalutility, e.g., Toronto Hydro™, on or before Dec. 2, 2016, and interfaceelement 322 may represent a monthly bill in the amount of $15 for user101's consumption of natural gas, which may be due to a localnatural-gas utility, e.g., Enbridge™ Gas Distribution, on or before Dec.20, 2016. The disclosed embodiments are not limited to these exemplaryinterface elements and represented obligations, and in further aspects,GUI 207 may include interface elements associated with any additional oralternate obligation held by user 101, as described above.

Referring back to FIG. 3A, interface elements 312, 314, 316, 318, 320,and 322 may be disposed within a portion 302 of GUI 207, which may bebounded by interface-portion boundary 302A, and which interfacegeneration module 204 may associate with outstanding obligations thatare available for resolution using any of the resolution using of theexemplary scheduling processes described below. Additionally, in certainaspects, interface generation module 204 may also define an additionalportion 304 of GUI 207, which may be bounded by interface-portionboundary 304A, and which interface generation module 204 may associatewith one or more of the available obligations, e.g., as included withinportion 302, selected for resolution by user 101. In some aspects, andin addition to or an alternate to scheduling processes that require user101 interact with and navigate through multiple, hierarchical menus toschedule obligations for resolution, the disclosed embodiments mayenable user 101 to select one or more obligations for resolution byproviding input to device 102 that manipulates positions of thecorresponding interface elements within GUI 207, as described below inreference to FIGS. 3B and 3C.

For example, to select the wireless bill generated by Rogers™Communication for resolution, user 101 may provide input, to device 102through input unit 206B, that selects the presented interface elementassociated with the Rogers™ Communication bill, e.g., interface element312, and provide additional input through input unit 206B that movesinterface element 312 from its initial position within portion 302 ofGUI 207 to a subsequent position within portion 304 of GUI 207. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 3B, user 101 may select interfaceelement 312 by establishing contact between a finger and a portion ofdisplay-unit surface 110 enclosed by a boundary 312A of interfaceelement 312 (e.g., at a first contact position 330). While maintainingcontact with display-unit surface 110, user 110 may slide the fingeracross display-unit surface 110 to a second contact position 332disposed within boundary 304A of interface portion 304, at which timeuser 101 may release the maintained contact between the finger anddisplay-unit surface 110. In some aspects, illustrated in FIG. 3B, thetranslation of user 101's finger across display-unit surface 110 firstcontact position 330 to second contact position 332 corresponds to amovement of interface element 312 from a position within interfaceportion 302 to a corresponding position within interface portion 304,and indicates an intention of user 101 to schedule a resolution of theobligation associated with interface element 312, e.g., the Rogers™Communication wireless bill, using scheduling processes consistent withthe disclosed embodiments.

Additionally user 101 may also intend to schedule a resolution of theoutstanding Visa™ credit card bill (e.g., associated with a minimumpayment of $85 due by November 30^(th)), the mortgage payment (e.g., a$2,850 payment due by December 10^(th)), and the electric bill fromToronto Hydro™ (e.g., associated with a $30 payment due on December2^(nd)) using scheduling processes consistent with the disclosedembodiments, such as those outlined below. In some aspects, depicted inFIG. 3C, user 101 may provide any of the exemplary input described aboveto move interface elements 314, 318, and 320, which correspondrespectively to the outstanding Visa™ credit card bill, mortgagepayment, and Toronto Hydro™ bill) from their initial positions withininterface portion 302 to corresponding positions within interfaceportion 304. As described above, the provided input may indicate anintention by user 101 to schedule the resolution of the obligationsassociated with interface elements 314, 318, and 320 (e.g., theoutstanding Visa™ credit card bill, mortgage payment, and Toronto Hydro™bill) using scheduling processes consistent with the disclosedembodiments.

Referring back to FIG. 2, input unit 206B may capture input data 208,which may reflect a movement of interface elements 312, 314, 318, and320 from their initial positions within interface portion 302 to theirsubsequent positions within interface portion 304, and may provide inputdata 208 to selection module 210. In some aspects, selection module 210may also obtain mapping data 209 from interface generation module 204(e.g., data that maps the generated interface elements to correspondingpositions within GUI 207 and thus, corresponding positions withindisplay-unit surface 110), and based on portions of input data 208,perform operations that establish and confirm the provided inputreflects the movement of interface elements 312, 314, 318, and 320 frominterface portion 302 to interface portion 304.

Referring to interface element 312 of FIG. 3B, and based on portions ofobtained mapping data 209, selection module 210 may perform operationsthat confirm a disposition of first contact position 330 within boundary312A of interface portion 302 of GUI 207, and that confirm a dispositionof second contact position 332 within boundary 304A of interface portion304 of GUI 207. In response to the confirmed dispositions, selectionmodule 210 may perform operations that select the obligation representedby interface element 312 (e.g., the Rogers™ Communication wireless bill)for resolution using processes consistent with the disclosedembodiments. In some aspects, selection module 210 may performadditional operations that store data identifying the selectedobligation (e.g., the Rogers™ Communication wireless bill) and one ormore obligation parameters (e.g., the billed amount of $45 and the duedate of November 27^(th)) in a portion of a data repository 104maintained within one or more tangible, non-transitory memories, e.g.,as selected obligation data 212.

Additionally, selection module 210 may apply any of the exemplaryprocesses described above to portions of input data 206 and mapping data209 to confirm that the input provided by user 101 reflects a movementof interface elements 314, 318, and 320 from interface portion 302 tointerface portion 304 of GUI 207, and in view of the confirmation,select the obligations represented by interface elements 314, 318, and320 (e.g., the outstanding Visa™ credit card bill, mortgage payment, andToronto Hydro™ bill) for resolution using processes consistent with thedisclosed embodiments. In some aspects, selection module 210 may performadditional operations that store data identifying the selectedobligations (e.g., the outstanding Visa™ credit card bill, mortgagepayment, and Toronto Hydro™ bill) and one or more obligation parameters(e.g., the corresponding obligation amounts and due dates) as a portionof selected obligation data 212 within data repository 144.

In further aspects, and upon selection of the outstanding Rogers™Communication wireless bill, Visa™ credit card bill, mortgage payment,and Toronto Hydro™ bill, device 102 may perform operations thatgenerate, and present to user 101 through display unit 206A, anadditional graphical user interface (GUI) that, in response to inputprovided to input unit 206B that manipulates one or more presentedinterface elements, enables user 101 to schedule the selectedobligations for resolution, and that further enables user 101 to viewtemporal relationships between the scheduled resolutions and otherevents that impact user 101, such as scheduled distributions of wages bya payroll system (e.g., one or third-party systems 140).

For example, and referring to FIG. 4, interface generation module 204may access data specifying dimensions of display-unit surface 110 (e.g.,as maintained by display unit 206A), and may perform any of theexemplary processes described above to generate interface elementsrepresentative of each of the obligations selected for resolution (e.g.,the outstanding Rogers™ Communication wireless bill, Visa™ credit cardbill, mortgage payment, and Toronto Hydro™ bill). Additionally, and asdescribed above, interface generation module 204 may also establishelement sizes for each of the generated interface elements (e.g., basedon a scaling of a predetermined element size in accordance with thedimensions of the display-unit surface), and establish values of one ormore presentation characteristics, such as user-specified orpredetermined elements colors, fonts or shadings.

Further, and in addition to the interface elements described above,which represent the one or more obligations elected by user 101 forresolution, interface generation module 104 may also perform operationsthat generate one or more additional interface elements that, whenpresented within an additional GUI, establish a timeline of dates and/ortimes available for resolving the selected obligations, and enable user101 to view temporal relationships between the scheduled resolutions andother events that impact user 101, such as scheduled distributions ofwages by a payroll system (e.g., one or third-party systems 140). In oneaspect, interface generation module 204 may access data repository 104(e.g., as stored within one or more tangible, non-transitory memories bydevice 102) and obtain calendar data 402, which identifies one or moredates and/or times that are available for resolving the selectedobligations. Interface generation module 204 may, in some instances,select a subset of the available dates or times for presentation withinthe additional GUI, and generate additional temporal interface elementsthat correspond to each of the selected subset of the available dates ortimes.

For example, interface generation module 204 may perform operations thatestablish a current date, e.g., Nov. 29, 2016, and select a subset ofavailable dates for presentation within the additional GUI that include,but are not limited to, November 29^(th), November 30^(th) , December1^(st), and December 2^(nd). Interface generation module 204 may, insome aspects, generate temporal interface elements that correspond toeach of the subset of the available dates. Additionally, and asdescribed above, interface generation module 204 may also establishelement sizes for each of the generated temporal interface elements(e.g., based on a scaling of a predetermined element size in accordancewith the dimensions of the display-unit surface), and establish valuesof one or more presentation characteristics of the temporal interfaceelements, such as user-specified or predetermined elements colors, fontsor shadings.

In further aspects, interface generation module 204 may perform any ofthe exemplary processes described above to map the generatedobligation-based and temporal interface elements to correspondingpositions within the additional GUI, and thus, to correspondingpresentation positions within display-unit surface 110. In some aspects,interface generation module 204 may generate data, e.g., interface data404, that includes the generated obligation-based and temporal interfaceelements (and data specifying the established sizes and values ofpresentation characteristics) and mapping data that correlates thegenerated obligation-based and temporal interface elements tocorresponding presentation positions on display-unit surface 110 andwithin the additional GUI.

Interface generation module 204 may provide interface data 404 todisplay unit 206A, which may render the generated obligation-based andtemporal interface elements for presentation to user 101 within theadditional GUI, e.g., GUI 406. As described below, in response to thepresentation of GUI 406, user 101 may provide input data, e.g., input408, to device 102 through input unit 206B (e.g., touch-based inputprovided to the display-unit surface of the pressure-sensitive,touchscreen interface unit). In some aspects, input 408 may reflect aselective manipulation of the positions of one or more of the interfaceelements within presented GUI 406 by user 101, and a scheduling module410 of device 102 may process input 408, either alone or in conjunctionwith mapping data 409, to characterize the selective manipulation of theone or more interface elements. Based on the characterization,scheduling module 210 may identify one of the available dates selectedby user 101 for resolution of each of the selected obligations, e.g.,the outstanding Rogers™ Communication wireless bill, Visa™ credit cardbill, mortgage payment, and Toronto Hydro™ bill.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, device 102 may present GUI 406through display unit 206A, which may correspond to thepressure-sensitive, touchscreen display unit having display-unit surface110. In some aspects, presented GUI 406 may include interface elements512, 514, 516, and 518, each of which correspond to one or theobligations selected by user 101 for resolution in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments (e.g., within GUI 207 of FIGS. 3A-3C). Forexample, interface element 512 may represent the wireless bill generatedby Rogers™ Communications, which may be associated with a $45 monthlyservice fee and a due date of Nov. 27, 2016, and interface element 514may represent the outstanding Visa™ credit-card bill, which may beassociated with a minimum payment of $85 due on or before Nov. 30, 2016.Further, and by way of example, interface element 516 may represent theoutstanding electric bill generated by Toronto Hydro™, which mayobligate user 101 to remit a $30 payment on or before Dec. 2, 2016, andinterface element 518 may represent the recurring monthly mortgagepayment of $2,850, which is due one or before Dec. 10, 2016. Thedisclosed embodiments are not limited to these exemplary interfaceelements and corresponding obligations, and in further aspects, GUI 406may include interface elements associated with any additional oralternate obligation selected for resolution by user 101, as describedabove.

GUI 406, when presented to user 101 through display unit 206A, may alsoinclude temporal interface elements 522, 524, 526, and 528, each ofwhich may represent a date or time available for resolving one or moreof the user-specified obligations described above. For example, temporalinterface element 522 may represent an available resolution date ofNovember 29^(th), temporal interface element 524 may represent anavailable resolution date of November 30^(th), temporal interfaceelement 526 may represent an available resolution date of December1^(st), and temporal interface element 528 may represent an availableresolution date of December 2^(nd). The disclosed embodiments are,however, not limited these exemplary dates, or to these exemplary numberof available dates, and in other aspects, GUI 406 may include temporalelements representative of any additional or alternate number of datesavailable to resolve the user-specified obligations.

Further, and as illustrated in FIG. 5A, temporal interface elements 512,516, 518, and 520 may be arranged within GUI 406 to form a contiguoustimeline 520 disposed along a lateral edge of GUI 406. In certainaspects, when presented to user 101 through GUI 406, timeline 520 mayenable user 101 to visualize temporal relationships between thescheduled resolutions and other events that impact user 101, such asscheduled distributions of wages by a payroll system (e.g., one orthird-party systems 140). For example, and as described above, interfacegeneration module 204 may obtain, from a corresponding one ofthird-party systems 140 associated with a payroll service, event datathat identifies a scheduled distribution of wages into financialservices account of user 101 on Nov. 30, 2016, and may generate anevent-based interface element 532 that represents the scheduleddistribution of wages. In some aspects, as depicted in FIG. 5A, displayunit 206A may present event-based interface element 532 at a position ontimeline 520 that corresponds to the scheduled November 30^(th)distribution, e.g., at a position coincident with temporal interfaceelement 524 along timeline 520.

Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, interface elements 512, 514,516, and 518 may be disposed within a portion 502 of GUI 406 defined byinterface-portion boundary 502A, and which interface generation module204 may associate with those obligations selected by user 101 forresolution. In some aspects, to schedule the obligations associated withpresented interface elements 512, 514, 516, and 518 for resolution oncorresponding ones of the available dates, user 101 may provide input todevice 102, through input unit 206B, that reflects a movement of each ofelements 512, 514, 516, and 518 from an initial position withininterface portion 502 to a subsequent position coincident with oroccupied by a corresponding one of temporal interface elements 522, 524,526, and 528. These exemplary processes, and other described herein, maybe implemented by device 102 in addition to or an alternate to processesthat require user 101 interact with and navigate through multiple,hierarchical menus to schedule obligations for resolution.

For example, user 101 may intend to schedule the wireless bill generatedby Rogers™ Communications for resolution on November 29^(th), whichrepresents the earliest date on timeline 520 available for resolving thespecified obligations. To select the wireless bill generated by Rogers™Communication for resolution on November 29^(th), user 101 may provideinput, to device 102 through input unit 206B, that selects the interfaceelement associated with the Rogers™ Communication wireless bill, e.g.,interface element 512, and that moves interface element 512 from itsinitial position within interface portion 502 to a subsequent positionwithin GUI 406 that coincides with or is occupied by temporal interfaceelement 522, which represents the available resolution date of November29^(th). For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, user 101 may selectinterface element 512 by establishing contact between a finger and aportion of display-unit surface 110 enclosed by a boundary 512A ofinterface element 512 (e.g., at a first contact position 530).

While maintaining contact with display-unit surface 110, user 110 mayslide the finger across display-unit surface 110 to a second contactposition 532, at which time user 101 may release the contact between thefinger and display-unit surface 110. In some aspects, and as illustratedin FIG. 5B, the translation of user 101's finger across display-unitsurface 110 from first contact position 530 to second contact position532 may correspond to a movement of interface element 512 from aposition within interface portion 502 to a subsequent position at whichinterface element 512 overlaps or coincides with at least a portion oftemporal interface element 522, and may indicate an intention of user101 to schedule a resolution of the Rogers™ Communication bill onNovember 29^(th), which as described above, corresponds to the availableresolution date represented by temporal interface element 522.

User 101 may also intend to schedule the outstanding Visa™ credit cardbill (e.g., associated with a minimum payment of $85 due by November30^(th)) for resolution on its due date of November 30^(th), to schedulethe Toronto Hydro™ electric bill (e.g., associated with a $30 paymentdue on December 2^(nd)) for resolution on December 1^(st), and further,to schedule the mortgage payment (e.g., a $2,850 payment due by December10^(th)) for resolution on December 2^(nd). In some aspects, depicted inFIG. 5C, user 101 may provide, to device 102 through input unit 206B,any of the exemplary input described above to move interface elements514, 516, and 518, which correspond respectively to the outstandingVisa™ credit card bill, Toronto Hydro™ electric bill, and mortgagepayment, from their initial positions within interface portion 502 topositions within GUI 406 that coincide with, or overlap, portions oftemporal interface elements 524, 528, and 528.

In response to the provided input, display unit 206A may presentinterface elements 512, 514, 516, and 518 at the positions with GUI 406that coincide with, or overlap with, portions of temporal interfaceelements 522, 524, 526, and 528 that represent the scheduled resolutiondates for the underlying obligations. For example, and referring to FIG.5D, display unit 206A may present interface element 512, whichrepresents the Rogers™ Communications wireless bill, at a positionwithin GUI 406 that coincides portion of temporal interface element 522,which represents the scheduled resolution date of November 29^(th). Asfurther illustrated by FIG. 5D, display unit 206A may present interfaceelement 514, which represents the Visa™ credit card bill, at a positionwithin GUI 406 that coincides with a portion of temporal interfaceelement 524, which represents the scheduled resolution date of November30^(th), and is proximate to presented interface element 532, whichrepresents the distribution of wages scheduled for November 30^(th).Additionally, and as illustrated in FIG. 5D, display unit 206A maypresent interface element 516, which represents the Toronto Hydro™ bill,at a position within GUI 406 that coincides with portion of temporalinterface element 526, which represents the scheduled resolution date ofDecember 1^(st), and may present interface element 518, which representsthe mortgage bill, at a position within GUI 406 that coincides with aportion of temporal interface element 528, which represents thescheduled resolution date of December 2^(nd). In further instances, andresponsive to the scheduled obligations, interface generation module 204may generate an additional interface element indicative of a lack ofunscheduled, user-selected obligations, and as illustrated in FIG. 5D,display unit 206A may present the newly generated interface element,e.g., interface element 534, within interface portion 502.

Referring back to FIG. 4, input unit 206B may capture data (e.g., inputdata 408) corresponding to the input provided by user 101 to device 102,and may provide captured input data 408 to a scheduling module 410 ofdevice 102. Scheduling module 410 may also obtain, from interfacegeneration module 204, mapping data 409 that maps generated interfaceelements to corresponding positions within GUI 406 and thus,corresponding positions within display-unit surface 110. Based onportions of input data 408 and mapping data 409, scheduling module 410may perform operations that determine the input provided by user 101represents a movement of interface elements 512, 514, 516, and 518within GUI 406 from the initial positions within interface portion 502to the subsequent positions that coincide with corresponding ones oftemporal interface elements 522, 524, 526, and 528 along timeline 520,and thus reflects an intention of user 101 to schedule the obligationsassociated with 512, 514, 516, and 518 for resolution on available datesassociated with corresponding ones of temporal interface elements 522,524, 526, and 528.

By way of example, and in reference to interface element 512 of FIG. 5B,scheduling module 410 may perform operations that process obtainedmapping data 409 to establish a disposition of first contact position530 within boundary 512A of interface element 512, and further, tocompute a displacement between first contact position 530 and one ormore points disposed along boundary 512A, such as corners of boundary512 (e.g., as measured in pixels or other units of measure). In furtherinstances, and based on the computed displacements, scheduling module410 may perform operations that reconstitute boundary 512 about secondcontact position 532 (e.g., by determine the positions of the one ormore points along boundary 512 relative to second contact position 532based on corresponding ones of the computed displacements). Schedulingmodule 410 may access portions of obtained mapping data that establish aboundary of temporal interface elements 522, 524, 526, and 528 alongdisplay-unit surface 110, and determine whether reconstituted boundary512 intersects the established boundary of a corresponding one oftemporal interface elements 522, 524, 526, and 528.

In one instance, scheduling module 410 may determine that reconstitutedboundary 512 intersects the boundary of temporal interface element 522,and that moved interface element 512 coincides with a portion oftemporal interface element 522, which represents an available resolutiondate of November 29^(th). Based on this determination, selection module410 may establish that input data 408 reflects a request by user 101 toschedule the resolution of the Rogers™ Communication wireless bill(e.g., as represented by interface element 512) on November 29^(th)(e.g., as represented by temporal interface element 522). In someaspects, scheduling module 410 may perform additional operations thatstore data identifying the scheduled obligation (e.g., the Rogers™Communication wireless bill), the scheduled resolution date (e.g.,November 29^(th)) and one or more obligation parameters (e.g., thebilled amount of $45 and the due date of November 27^(th)) in a portionof a data repository 104 maintained within one or more tangible,non-transitory memories, e.g., as scheduling data 212.

Additionally, scheduling module 410 may apply any of the exemplaryprocesses described above to portions of input data 408 and mapping data409 to determine that the input provided by user 101 reflects a movementof interface elements 514, 516, and 518 from interface portion 502 topositions within GUI 406 that overlap portions of corresponding ones oftemporal interface elements 524, 526, and 529 (e.g., representing,respectively, available resolution dates of November 30^(th), December1^(st), and December 2^(nd)). Based on this determination, selectionmodule 410 may establish that input data 408 reflects a request by user101 to schedule the resolution of the outstanding Visa™ credit cardbill, Toronto Hydro™ electric bill, and mortgage payment (e.g., asrepresented by interface elements 524, 526, and 528) on correspondingavailable resolution dates of November 30^(th), December 1^(st), andDecember 2^(nd) (e.g., as represented by temporal interface elements524, 526, and 528). In some aspects, scheduling module 410 may performadditional operations that store data identifying the scheduledobligations (e.g., the outstanding Visa™ credit card bill, TorontoHydro™ electric bill, and mortgage payment), the scheduled resolutiondates (e.g., November 30^(th), December 1^(st), and December 2^(nd)),and one or more corresponding obligation parameters (e.g., theobligation amounts and due dates described above) in as portionsscheduling data 212 within data repository 104.

In some embodiments, the presentation of interface elementsrepresentative of scheduled resolutions of obligations and scheduledoccurrences of events impacting user 101 within a single timeline, e.g.,timeline 520 of FIGS. 5A-5D, may enable user 101 to visualize, in realtime, temporal relationships between the scheduled resolutions and otherevents that impact user 101 within a single GUI. In additional aspects,and consistent with the disclosed embodiments, display unit 206A maypresent additional or alternate interface elements within timeline 520that visually convey not only the scheduling of outstanding obligationsfor resolution on corresponding available dates, but also a relationshipof these scheduled resolution dates to due dates or deadlines associatedwith the underlying obligations.

For example, and as described above, user 101 may provide input todevice 102 that schedules the wireless bill generated by Rogers™Communications for resolution on November 29^(th), which fallssubsequent to the November 27^(th) due date of the wireless bill. Thewireless bill, in some instances, is past-due at the scheduledresolution, and interface generation module 204 may perform operationsthat generate and assign, to the Rogers™ Communications wireless bill,and thus, to interface element 512, an additional interface elementhaving visual characteristics that, when presented within GUI 406,convey the past-due status of the scheduled resolution. For example, theadditional interface element, e.g., an icon, may be associated with apredetermined or user-specified shape and/or color indicative of thepast-due status of the wireless bill, e.g., a red, equilateral triangle.Referring to FIG. 5E, display unit 206A may replace interface element512, which corresponds to the wireless bill generated by Rogers™Communications, with the additional interface element, e.g., icon 542,that visually conveys the past-due status of the wireless bill to user101, and may present icon 542 at a position within GUI 406 associateswith interface element 512 (e.g., overlapping a portion of temporalinterface element 522 within timeline 520).

Similarly, interface generation module 206 may perform additionaloperations that generate and assign, to the outstanding Visa™ creditcard bill, Toronto Hydro™ bill, and mortgage payment (and thus, tointerface elements 514, 516, and 518), additional interface elements,e.g., icons, having visual characteristics that, when presented withinGUI 406, visually convey to user 101 the status of these obligations atthe scheduled resolution dates. For example, interface generation module204 may establish, based on stored obligation data 212, that user 101scheduled resolution of the outstanding Visa™ credit card bill on itsdue date of November 30^(th), and may assign to the outstanding Visa™credit card bill (and to interface element 514) an icon 544 having apredetermined or user-specified shape and/or color indicative of thecurrent status of the outstanding Visa™ credit card bill, e.g., a bluestar. Interface generation module 204 may also establish that thescheduled resolution dates for the Toronto Hydro™ bill and mortgagepayment (e.g., December 1^(st) and December 2^(nd), respectively) fallprior to the due dates for these obligations (e.g., December 2^(nd) andDecember 10^(th), respectively) and may assign to the Toronto Hydro™bill and mortgage payment (and to interface elements 516 and 518) anicon 546 having a predetermined or user-specified shape and/or colorindicative of the future status of the outstanding Toronto Hydro™ billand mortgage payment, e.g., a green circle.

Referring to FIG. 5E, display unit 206A may replace interface element514, which represents the outstanding Visa™ credit card bill with icon544, e.g., the blue star, that visually conveys the current status ofthe outstanding Visa™ credit card bill to user 101, and may present icon544 at a position within GUI 406 associates with interface element 514(e.g., overlapping a portion of temporal interface element 524 withintimeline 520). Similarly, display unit 206A may replace each ofinterface elements 516 and 518, which represent the outstanding TorontoHydro™ bill and mortgage payment, with icon 546, e.g., the blue star,that visually conveys the future status of the outstanding TorontoHydro™ bill and mortgage payment bill to user 101, and may present icon546 at a position within GUI 406 associated with interface elements 516and 518 (e.g., overlapping corresponding portions of temporal interfaceelement 526 and 528 within timeline 520). The disclosed embodiments are,however, not limited to these exemplary interface-shapes and colors, andin other aspects, interface generation module 204 may generate andassign additional interface elements having any additional or alternatevisual characteristic that, when presented by GUI 408, visually conveysto user 101 a relationship between the schedules resolution dates andthe due dates associated with the obligations.

In further embodiments, and upon scheduling the outstanding Rogers™Communication wireless bill, Visa™ credit card bill, Toronto Hydro™bill, and mortgage payment, device 102 may be configured to generate,and present to user 101 through display unit 206A, an additionalgraphical user interface (GUI) that, in response to input provided toinput unit 206B that manipulates one or more presented interfaceelements, enables user 101 to assign one or more sources of funding,such as payment instruments held by and available to user 101, tocorresponding ones of the obligations. For example, user 101 may intendto fund the scheduled resolutions of the obligations using the assignedpayment instruments, and in response to the received input, device 102may be configured to associate the assigned payment instruments with theobligations and their scheduled resolutions, and further, transmit datato one or more network-connected computer systems to initiate theresolution of the obligations using the assigned payment instruments andin accordance with the established schedule.

In some instances, interface generation module 204 of FIG. 4 may performoperations that request data identifying one or more payment instrumentsheld by and available to user 101 from one or more network-connectedcomputing systems, such as those maintained by financial institutionsthat issue the payment instruments held by the user 101. In otheraspects, and consistent with the disclosed embodiments, interfacegeneration module 204 may obtain portions of the data identifying thepayment instruments from one or more locally accessible datarepositories (e.g., data repository 104), such as those populated bypayment-service applications that establish and maintain a digitalwallet on device 102. Examples of these payment instruments may include,but are not limited to, credit and debit card accounts held by 101 ofthe device and issued by one or more financial institutions (e.g.,issuers), checking, savings, or brokerage accounts held by user 101,electronic funds transfers (e.g., e-transfers), and units of one or moredigital currencies held by the customer in one or more correspondingaccounts (e.g., units of Bitcoin™, Litecoin™, etc.) held by user 101.

By way of example, and in response to the transmitted request, interfacegeneration module 204 may request and receive payment data identifyingone or more payment instruments from financial-institution system 130,and the received data may identify, as available payment instruments,checking, savings, and brokerage accounts held by the financialinstitution associated with financial-institution system 130 on behalfof user 101, a MasterCard™ credit card account held by user 101 andissued by the financial institution, and an account holding units of thedigital currency, e.g., Bitcoin™, owned by user 101. The receivedpayment data may also include account data characterizing and specifyingeach of the available payment instruments, which may include, but is notlimited to, account numbers, card security codes (CSCs), expirationdates, bank routing numbers, issuer identification numbers (IINs), andnames and addresses of account holders associated with the availablepayment instruments.

In some aspects, and using any of the exemplary processes describedabove, interface generation module 204 may perform operations thatgenerate interface elements representative of each of the availablepayment instruments, and map the generated interface elements tocorresponding position within a graphical user interface (GUI), whichdevice 102 may present to user 101 through display unit 206A. Further,and as described above interface generation module 204 may generateinterface data that characterizes the generated interface elements andincludes the generated mapping data, which correlates the generatedinterface elements to corresponding presentation positions within thedisplay-unit surface and as such, within the presented GUI. Interfacegeneration module 204 may provide interface data 205 to display unit206A, which may render the generated interface elements for presentationto user 101 within the GUI 406.

In response to the presentation of the GUI, user 101 may provide inputdata to device 102 through input unit 206B (e.g., touch-based inputprovided to the display-unit surface of the pressure-sensitive,touchscreen interface unit). In some aspects, input 408 may reflect aselective manipulation of the positions of one or more interfaceelements within presented GUI by user 101, and scheduling module device102 may process input 408, either alone or in conjunction with mappingdata 409, to characterize the selective manipulation of the one or moreinterface elements using any of the exemplary processes described above.In an embodiment, and based on the characterization of the selectivemanipulation, scheduling module 210 may identify one or more of thepayment instruments selected by user 101 to fund the scheduledresolutions of the selected obligations, and may perform operation that,in conjunction with one or more network-connected systems, initiate theresolution of the obligations in accordance with the establishedresolution schedule and the user-selected payment instruments or fundingsource.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, device 102 may present a GUI,such as GUI 406 described above, to user 101 through display unit 206A,which may correspond to a LCD unit having a display-unit surface 110. Insome aspects, presented GUI 406 may include interface elements 612, 614,616, 618, and 620, each of which may correspond to a payment instrumentheld by user 101 and available the scheduled resolution of the selectedobligations. For example, interface elements 612 and 614 may represent,respectively, checking and savings accounts held by user 101 at thefinancial institution associated with financial-institution system 130,interface element 616 may represent the MasterCard™ credit card accountheld by user 101 and issued by the financial institution, and interfaceelement 618 may represent a brokerage account held by user 101 at thefinancial institution. Additionally, in some instances, interfaceelement 620 may represent a digital-currency account held by user 101,which holds one or more units of a digital currency, e.g., Bitcoin™,available for use in resolving one or more of the selected obligations.The disclosed embodiments are not limited to these exemplary paymentinstruments and funding sources, and in further aspects, GUI 406 mayinclude interface elements representative of any additional or alternatepayment instrument or funding source held by user 101 and available foruse in the resolution of the selected obligations.

Further, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, interface elements 612, 614, 616,618, and 620 may be disposed within a portion 602 of GUI 406 defined byinterface-portion boundary 602A, and which interface generation module204 may associate with payment instruments available for use inscheduled resolutions. For example, and as illustrated in FIG. 6A,interface portion 602 may replace interface portion 502 within GUI 406(e.g., as described above in reference to FIG. 5D) with interfaceportion 602, and with interface elements 612, 614, 616, 618, and 620,upon receipt of input that schedules all of the outstanding obligationsselected by user 101 (e.g., the outstanding Rogers™ Communicationwireless bill, Visa™ credit card bill, Toronto Hydro™ electric bill, andmortgage payment). In other aspects, not depicted in FIG. 6A, GUI 406may include both interface portions 502 and 602 within a single viewingpane.

As described above, presented GUI 406 may also include a timeline 502that includes temporal interface elements 522, 524, 526, and 528, whichcorrespond to available resolution dates of November 29^(th), November30^(th), December 1^(st), and December 2^(nd), and which enables user101 to visualize the temporal relationships between the scheduledresolutions and other events that impact user 101, such as scheduleddistributions of wages by a payroll system (e.g., one or third-partysystems 140). For example, and as illustrated in FIG. 6A, interfaceelement 512 may be disposed at a position within GUI 406 that coincideswith a portion of temporal interface element 522, which establishes user101's intention to schedule the resolution of the outstanding Rogers™Communication wireless bill on November 30^(th). Additionally, interfaceelement 514 may be disposed at a position within GUI 406 that coincideswith a portion of temporal interface element 524, interface element 516may be disposed at a position within GUI 406 that coincides with aportion of temporal interface element 526, interface element 518 may bedisposed at a position within GUI 406 that overlaps a portion oftemporal interface element 528, which collectively establish user 101'sintention to schedule the resolution of the outstanding Visa™ creditcard bill on November 30^(th), the resolution of the outstanding TorontoHydro™ electric bill on December 1^(st), and the resolution of theoutstanding mortgage payment on December 2^(nd). Additionally, and asdescribed above, GUI 406 may also present interface element 532 at aposition that coincides with a portion of temporal interface element524, which reflects a scheduled distribution of wages to a financialservices account of user 101 on November 30^(th).

In additional embodiments, to fund a scheduled resolution of anoutstanding obligation, user 101 may provide input to device 102,through input unit 206B, that reflects a movement of a corresponding oneof interface elements 612, 614, 616, 618, and 620 from an initialposition within interface portion 602 to a subsequent position withinGUI 406 that overlaps at least a portion of an interface elementassociated with the outstanding obligation within timeline 520, asdescribed below in reference to FIG. 6B. In some aspects, the providedinput may reflect an intention of user 101 to fund the scheduledresolution of the outstanding obligation using the payment instrumentrepresented by the corresponding one of interface elements 612, 614,616, 618, and 620. These exemplary funding processes, and otherdescribed herein, may be implemented by device 102 in addition to or analternate to funding processes that require user 101 interact with andnavigate through multiple, hierarchical menus to schedule and fundobligations for subsequent or concurrent resolution.

For example, user 101 may determine to fund the scheduled resolution ofthe wireless bill generated by Rogers™ Communications on November29^(th) using the checking account held by user 101 at the financialinstitution. To fund the resolution of the Rogers™ Communicationwireless bill using the checking account, user 101 may provide input, todevice 102 through input unit 206B. that selects the presented interfaceelement associated with the checking account, e.g., interface element612, and that moves interface element 612 from its initial positionwithin portion 602 to a subsequent position within GUI 406 that overlapsa portion of interface element 512 along timeline 520, which representsthe scheduled resolution of the Rogers™ Communication wireless bill onNovember 29^(th).

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6B, user 101 may select interfaceelement 612 by establishing contact between a finger and a portion ofdisplay-unit surface 110 enclosed by a boundary 612A of interfaceelement 612 (e.g., at a first contact position 630). While maintainingcontact with display-unit surface 110, user 110 may slide the fingeracross display-unit surface 110 to a second contact position 632, atwhich time user 101 may release the contact between the finger anddisplay-unit surface 110. In some aspects, and as illustrated in FIG.6B, the translation of user 101's finger across display-unit surface 110from first contact position 630 to second contact position 632 maycorrespond to a movement of interface element 612 from a position withininterface portion 502 to a subsequent position at which interfaceelement 612 overlaps or is included within at least a portion ofinterface element 512 along timeline 520. The movement of interfaceelement 612 may, in some instances, indicate an intention of user 101 tofund the November 29^(th) resolution of the Rogers™ Communication billusing the checking account, which as described above, corresponds tointerface element 612.

User 101 may also determine to fund the November 30^(th) resolution ofthe outstanding Visa™ credit card bill using the checking account, tofund the December 1^(st) resolution of the Toronto Hydro™ electric billusing the MasterCard™ credit card account, and to fund the December2^(nd) resolution of the mortgage payment using the brokerage account.Additionally, user 101 may elect to deposit the funds associated withthe November 30^(th) distribution of wages (e.g., an event impactinguser 101, as represented by interface element 532 along timeline 520)into the checking account.

In some aspects, depicted in FIG. 6C, user 101 may provide, to device102 through input unit 206B, any of the exemplary input described aboveto: move interface element 612, which represents the available checkingaccount, from its initial position within interface portion 602 to aposition within GUI 406 that overlap or are included withincorresponding ones of interface elements 514 and 532; move interfaceelement 616, which represents the available MasterCard™ credit cardaccount, from its initial position within interface portion 602 to aposition within GUI 406 that overlaps or is included within interfaceelement 516; and move interface element 618, which represents theavailable brokerage account, from its initial position within interfaceportion 602 to a position within GUI 406 that overlaps or is includedwithin interface element 518. As described above, the provided input mayindicate an intention of user 101 to fund the scheduled resolution ofthe outstanding Visa™ credit card bill (e.g., represented by interfaceelement 514) using the available checking account, to deposit funds fromthe scheduled wage distribution (e.g., represented by interface element532) into the available checking account, to fund the resolution of theToronto Hydro™ electric bill (e.g., represented by interface element516) using the MasterCard™ credit card account, and to fund theresolution of the mortgage payment (e.g., represented by interfaceelement 518) using the brokerage account.

In some aspects, input unit 206B may capture data (e.g., input data 408)corresponding to the input provided by user 101 to device 102, and mayprovide captured input data 408 to scheduling module 410. As describedabove, scheduling module 410 may also obtain, from interface generationmodule 204, mapping data 409 that maps generated interface elements tocorresponding positions within GUI 406 and thus, corresponding positionswithin display-unit surface 110. Based on portions of input data 408 andmapping data 409, scheduling module 410 may perform any of the exemplaryprocesses described above to determine that the input provided by user101 represents a movement of interface element 612 from the initialposition within interface portion 602 to the subsequent position withinGUI 406 that overlaps or is incorporated within interface element 512,and thus reflects the intention of user 101 to fund the November 29^(th)resolution of the Rogers™ Communications wireless bill using theavailable checking account. Additionally, scheduling module 410 mayapply any of the exemplary processes described above to portions ofinput data 408 and mapping data 409 to establish the intention of user101 to fund the scheduled resolution of the outstanding Visa™ creditcard bill using the available checking account, to deposit funds fromthe scheduled wage distribution into the available checking account, tofund the resolution of the Toronto Hydro™ electric bill using theMasterCard™ credit card account, and to fund the resolution of themortgage payment using the brokerage account.

In some aspects, scheduling module 410 may perform additional operationsthat store data identifying and characterizing the selected paymentinstruments (e.g., the account data described above) within a portion ofone or more tangible, non-transitory memories, e.g., within datarepository 404, and link the structured data records that store theaccount data characterizing the payment instruments to portions ofscheduling data 212 that identify and characterize the obligations andcorresponding resolutions funded by selected the payment instruments andfunding sources. Additionally, and in further aspects, device 102 may befurther configured to transmit data to one or more network-connectedcomputer systems, such as financial-institution system 130 andthird-party systems 130, to initiate the resolution of the obligationsusing the selected payment instruments and/or funding sources and inaccordance with the established schedule.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary process 700 for obtainingscheduling a resolution of one or more outstanding obligations using asingle, data-aggregating graphical user interface, in accordance withthe disclosed embodiments. In some aspects, a communications device,such as device 102 operated by user 101, may perform the steps ofexemplary process 700. For example, and as described above, device 102may be configured to receive data indicative of obligations held by user101 and further, dates available to resolve these held obligations. Insome aspects, device 102 may be configured to aggregate the receivedobligation and temporal data into a single graphical user interface(GUI) for presentation through a corresponding display unit, and mayreceive, through a corresponding input unit, input from user 101 thatmanipulates certain interface elements presented within the GUI tosignal an intention to schedule a resolution of one or more of theobligations on corresponding ones of the available dates. Device 102 maybe configured to process the received input data and schedule the one ormore obligations for resolution in accordance with the user-specifiedschedule.

Referring to FIG. 7, device 102 may obtain obligation data identifyingone or more obligations held by user 101 and may identify one or moredates available to resolve these obligations (e.g., in step 702). Forexample, and as described above, an obligation may correspond to an actor course of action to which user 101 is bound to perform by mutualagreement with one or more counterparties, and an outstanding obligationmay refer to an obligation that requires an appropriate resolution,e.g., the performance of the corresponding act or course of action byuser 101. In one instance, an outstanding obligation may require user101 to transfer funds to one or more counterparties in exchange forproducts purchased during a particular prior time period, in exchangefor resources consumed during the particular prior time period, or inexchange for serviced rendered by the one or more counterparties duringthat particular prior time period. By way of example, the requiredtransfer of funds may correspond to a payment transaction initiated bydevice 102, either alone or in conjunction with other network-connectedcomputer systems, in satisfaction of a bill or an invoice issued by theone or more counterparties, which may be associated with a correspondingpayment deadline.

In some aspects, and as described above, device 102 may receiveobligation data from one or more network-connected computing systems,such as financial-institution system 130 and third-party systems 140 ofFIG. 1, which may generate invoices or bills that impose certainoutstanding obligations onto user 101. In other instances, andconsistent with the disclosed embodiments, user 101 may receive physicalcopies of bills or invoices from the financial institution, businessentities, governmental entities, or regulatory entities associated withthe network-connected computing systems, and device 102 may include adigital camera that, based on input received from user 101, may captureimages of the physical copies of the bills and images. Device 102 may,in some aspects, be configured to apply one or more image processingalgorithms and optical-character-recognition (OCR) techniques to thecaptured images to identify and extract corresponding portions of theobligation data from the captured images.

By way of example, the obligation data may identify each of the one ormore outstanding obligations, and for each outstanding obligation,specify a unique identifier that associated user 101 with theoutstanding obligation (e.g., an account number assigned to user 101 bythe financial institution, business entity, governmental entity, and/orregulatory entity), an amount associated with the outstandingobligation, a deadline for resolving the outstanding obligation, andadditionally or alternatively, instructions for resolving theoutstanding obligation (e.g., instructions for remitting payment, etc.).In other instances, and consistent with the disclosed embodiments, theobligation data may identify one or more events that impact user 101,such as distributions of weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly wages to afinancial services account held by user 101, and specify one or morescheduled occurrences of these events (e.g., a scheduled distributiondate of the wages) and corresponding event parameters (e.g., an amountof the distributed wages, etc.). For example, one of third-party systems140 may be associated with a payroll service that manages a distributionof wages to user 101 on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly schedule, anddevice 102 may obtain data identifying the scheduled distributions fromthe corresponding one of third-party systems 140 using any of theexemplary processes described above.

Device 102 may also be configured to obtain temporal data identifyingone or more dates or time available for resolving the obligations heldby user 101, e.g., as identified within the obtained obligation data(e.g., in step 702). In some instances, device 102 may be configured toaccess locally stored data, e.g., stored within one or more tangible,non-transitory memories, that identifies one or more dates and/or timesthat are available for resolving the user-selected obligations. Theaccessed data may, for certain instances, be generated by one or moreapplication programs executed by device 102, such as applicationprograms that maintain an electronic calendar on behalf of user 101, anddevice 102 may select a subset of the available dates or times from theaccessed data. For example, and as described above, device 102 may beconfigured to establish a current date, e.g., Nov. 29, 2016, and selecta subset of available dates from the accessed data that include, but arenot limited to, November 29^(th), November 30^(th), December 1^(st), andDecember 2^(nd).

Based on portions of the obligation and temporal data, device 102 may beconfigured to generate interface elements representative of one or moreof the outstanding obligations and dates or times available forresolving the one or more outstanding obligations (e.g., in step 704).For example, the one or more outstanding obligations may correspond to asubset of the obligations identified within the received obligation dataand selected for resolution by user 101, e.g., using any of theexemplary processes and GUIs described above, For example, in certaininstances, user 101 may provide input to device 102 that selects anoutstanding Rogers™ Communication wireless bill, an outstanding Visa™credit card bill, an outstanding mortgage payment, and an outstandingToronto Hydro™ electric bill for resolution, and device 102 may performany of the exemplary processes described above to generate interfaceelements representative of each of the obligations selected forresolution.

Further, and in addition to the interface elements representative ofobligations selected by user 101 for resolution, device 102 may also beconfigured to generate additional interface elements, e.g., temporalinterface elements, that, when presented through the display unit,establish a timeline of the available dates and/or times available forresolving the user-selected obligations, and enable user 101 to viewtemporal relationships between the scheduled resolutions and otherevents that impact user 101, such as the scheduled distributions ofwages. For example, and as described above, the temporal data mayspecify available dates for resolving the user-selected obligations(e.g., November 29^(th), November 30^(th), December 1^(st), and December2^(nd)), and device 102 may be configured in step 704 to generatetemporal interface elements corresponding the specified available datesusing any of the exemplary processes described above.

Additionally, in some aspects, device 102 may be configured to performany of the exemplary processes described above to map the generatedobligation-based and temporal interface elements to correspondingpositions within the GUI, and thus, to corresponding positions on adisplay-unit surface of a display unit of device 102, such asdisplay-unit surface 110 of display unit 206A described above. (e.g., instep 706). For example, device 102 may be configured to determine acentroid and boundary that define each of the generated obligation-basedand temporal interface elements, and to map each of the determinedinterface-element centroids and boundaries to corresponding spatialpositions within the GUI and additionally or alternatively, on thedisplay-unit surface. In some instances, in step 706, device 102 may beconfigured to generate mapping data that includes the determinedinterface-element centroids and boundaries, and the mappings of theseinterface-element centroids and boundaries to the corresponding spatialpositions within the GUI and additionally or alternatively, on thedisplay-unit surface.

In some aspects, the display unit of device 102 may render the generatedobligation-based and temporal interface elements for presentation touser 101 within the additional GUI, such as GUI 406 of FIGS. 5A-5E(e.g., in step 708). In some aspects, the display unit may arrange theobligation-based and temporal interface elements within thecorresponding GUI in accordance with the generated mapping data.Further, and in response to the presented GUI, an input unit of device102, which may distinct from the display unit or included with thedisplay unit in a corresponding interface unit (e.g., thepressure-sensitive, touchscreen interface unit described above), mayreceive first input data from user 101 (e.g., in step 710), and based onthat input data, identify a selection of one of the obligation-specificinterface elements (e.g., in step 712).

For example, and as described above, user 101 may determine to schedulea resolution of the wireless bill generated by Rogers™ Communicationsfor resolution on November 29^(th), and user 101 may select anobligation-specific interface element representative of the Rogers™Communications wireless bill by establishing contact between a fingerand a portion of display-unit surface 110 enclosed by a boundary of theobligation-specific interface element (e.g., at a first contactposition). In some aspects, in step 712, device 102 may be configured toprocess the first input data, identify a position within the GUI (andthe display-unit surface) that corresponds to the established contact,and based on portions of the generated mapping data, determine that theidentified position is disposed within the defined boundary of theobligation-specific interface element representative of the Rogers™Communications wireless. Based on the determination that the identifiedposition is disposed within the defined interface element boundary,device 102 may be configured to establish that user 101 selected theobligation-specific interface element representative of the Rogers™Communications wireless.

Additionally, and in further response to the presented GUI, device 102may receive second input data from user 101 through the input unit(e.g., in step 714). In some aspects, the second input data may reflecta selective manipulation of a position of the selected obligation-basedinterface element within the presented GUI, and based on the selectedmanipulation of the interface-element position, device 102 may beconfigured to associate the manipulated position with a correspondingone of the temporal interface elements, which may represent acorresponding one of the available resolution dates selected by user 101for resolution of the obligation associated with the selectedobligation-based interface element (e.g., in step 716).

For example, and as described above in FIG. 5B, user 101 may select theobligation-based interface element associated with the Rogers™Communications wireless bill by establishing contact between the fingerand the portion of display-unit surface 110 at the first contactposition, which is enclosed by the boundary of the obligation-specificinterface element. In further instances, and while maintaining contactwith display-unit surface 110, user 110 may slide the finger acrossdisplay-unit surface 110 to a second contact position 532, at which timeuser 101 may release the maintained contact between the finger anddisplay-unit surface 110. In one instance, and as described above, thetranslation of user 101's finger across display-unit surface 110 fromfirst contact position 530 to second contact position 532 may correspondto a movement of the selected obligation-specific interface element fromits initial position within the GUI to a subsequent position, which maycause the selected obligation-specific interface to coincide with atleast a portion of the temporal interface element representative of theNovember 29^(th) resolution data. In some aspects, the selectivemanipulation of the obligation-specific interface element by user 101within the presented GUI may indicate an intention of user 101 toschedule a resolution of the Rogers™ Communication bill on November29^(th).

Referring back to FIG. 7, device 102 may be configured in step 716 toprocess the second input data to identify the second contact position ofuser 101's finger (e.g., as indicated within the second input data as aposition associated with the loss of contact between the finger and thedisplay-unit surface). Based on portions of the generated mapping data,and using any of the exemplary processes described above, device 102 maybe configured to establish the boundaries of the temporal interfaceelement representative of the available November 29^(th) resolution date(e.g., temporal interface element 522 of FIG. 5B), determine positionswithin the presented GUI that would correspond to the anticipatedboundaries of the selected obligation-specific interface element (e.g.,interface element 512 of FIG. 5) when centered at second contactposition, and identify at least one intersection between theseanticipated boundaries and the established boundaries of the temporalinterface element representative of the available November 29^(th)resolution date.

Based on the identified intersection, device 102 may be configured todetermine that the selected obligation-specific interface element, asmoved by user 101, now overlaps at least a portion of the temporalinterface element representative of the available November 29^(th)resolution date, and based on the determination, device 102 mayestablish that user 101 intends to schedule the resolution of theRogers™ Communications wireless bill on November 29^(th) (e.g., in step714).

Device 102 may, in some aspects, perform any of the exemplary processesdescribed to schedule the resolution of the obligation associated withthe selected obligation-specific interface element, e.g., the Rogers™Communications wireless bill, on the available date represented by theoverlapped temporal interface element, e.g., the available November29^(th) resolution date (e.g., in step 718). Additionally, in step 716,device 102 may perform any of those operations described above, whichinclude the generation and presentation of additional interface elementswithin the GUI, that enable 101 to view and select one or more availablepayment instruments or sources of funding for use in the scheduledresolution.

In additional aspects, device 102 may determine whether additional inputrequires processing for obligation scheduling or funding (e.g., in step720). If device 102 were to identify additional, unprocessed input data(e.g., step 720; YES), exemplary process 700 may pass back to step 712,and device 102 may process first input data using any of the exemplaryprocesses described above. Alternatively, if device 102 were to identifyno additional, unprocessed input data (e.g., step 720; NO), exemplaryprocess 700 may be complete in step 722.

III. Exemplary Hardware and Software Implementations

Embodiments of the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed in this specification can be implemented in digital electroniccircuitry, in tangibly-embodied computer software or firmware, incomputer hardware, including the structures disclosed in thisspecification and their structural equivalents, or in combinations ofone or more of them. Embodiments of the subject matter described in thisspecification, including aggregation module 202, interface generationmodule 204, selection module 210, and scheduling module 410, can beimplemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modulesof computer program instructions encoded on a tangible non-transitoryprogram carrier for execution by, or to control the operation of, dataprocessing apparatus.

Additionally or alternatively, the program instructions can be encodedon an artificially-generated propagated signal, such as amachine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal that isgenerated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiverapparatus for execution by a data processing apparatus. The computerstorage medium can be a machine-readable storage device, amachine-readable storage substrate, a random or serial access memorydevice, or a combination of one or more of them.

The term “apparatus” or “system” refers to data processing hardware andencompasses all kinds of apparatus, devices, and machines for processingdata, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer,or multiple processors or computers. The apparatus or system can also beor further include special purpose logic circuitry, such as an FPGA(field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application-specificintegrated circuit). The apparatus or system can optionally include, inaddition to hardware, code that creates an execution environment forcomputer programs, such as code that constitutes processor firmware, aprotocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or acombination of one or more of them.

A computer program, which may also be referred to or described as aprogram, software, a software application, a module, a software module,a script, or code, can be written in any form of programming language,including compiled or interpreted languages, or declarative orprocedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as astand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unitsuitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program may, butneed not, correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be storedin a portion of a file that holds other programs or data, such as one ormore scripts stored in a markup language document, in a single filededicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files,such as files that store one or more modules, sub-programs, or portionsof code. A computer program can be deployed to be executed on onecomputer or on multiple computers that are located at one site ordistributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communicationnetwork.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable computers executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application-specific integrated circuit).

Computers suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, general or special purpose microprocessors or both, orany other kind of central processing unit. Generally, a centralprocessing unit will receive instructions and data from a read-onlymemory or a random access memory or both. The essential elements of acomputer are a central processing unit for performing or executinginstructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions anddata. Generally, a computer will also include, or be operatively coupledto receive data from or transfer data to, or both, one or more massstorage devices for storing data, such as magnetic, magneto-opticaldisks, or optical disks. However, a computer need not have such devices.Moreover, a computer can be embedded in another device, such as a mobiletelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile audio or videoplayer, a game console, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, or aportable storage device, such as a universal serial bus (USB) flashdrive, to name just a few.

Computer-readable media suitable for storing computer programinstructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory, mediaand memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memorydevices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magneticdisks, such as internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto-opticaldisks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory can besupplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquidcrystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user and akeyboard and a pointing device, such as a mouse or a trackball, by whichthe user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices canbe used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example,feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, suchas visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and inputfrom the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech,or tactile input. In addition, a computer can interact with a user bysending documents to and receiving documents from a device that is usedby the user; for example, by sending web pages to a web browser on auser's device in response to requests received from the web browser.

Implementations of the subject matter described in this specificationcan be implemented in a computer system that includes a back-endcomponent, such as a data server, or that includes a middlewarecomponent, such as an application server, or that includes a front-endcomponent, such as a client computer having a graphical user interfaceor a Web browser through which a user can interact with animplementation of the subject matter described in this specification, orany combination of one or more such back-end, middleware, or front-endcomponents. The components of the system can be interconnected by anyform or medium of digital data communication, such as a communicationnetwork. Examples of communication networks include a local area network(LAN) and a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet.

The computer system can include clients and servers. A client and serverare generally remote from each other and typically interact through acommunication network. The relationship of client and server arises byvirtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship to each other. In someimplementations, a server transmits data, such as an HTML page, to auser device, such as for purposes of displaying data to and receivinguser input from a user interacting with the user device, which acts as aclient. Data generated at the user device, such as a result of the userinteraction, can be received from the user device at the server.

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of the invention or of what may beclaimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particularembodiments of the invention. Certain features that are described inthis specification in the context of separate embodiments may also beimplemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures that are described in the context of a single embodiment mayalso be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in anysuitable sub-combination. Moreover, although features may be describedabove as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed assuch, one or more features from a claimed combination may in some casesbe excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may bedirected to a sub-combination or variation of a sub-combination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems maygenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

In each instance where an HTML file is mentioned, other file types orformats may be substituted. For instance, an HTML file may be replacedby an XML, JSON, plain text, or other types of files. Moreover, where atable or hash table is mentioned, other data structures (such asspreadsheets, relational databases, or structured files) may be used.

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations, but rather as descriptions of featuresspecific to particular implementations. Certain features that aredescribed in this specification in the context of separateimplementations may also be implemented in combination in a singleimplementation. Conversely, various features that are described in thecontext of a single implementation may also be implemented in multipleimplementations separately or in any suitable sub-combination. Moreover,although features may be described above as acting in certaincombinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more featuresfrom a claimed combination may in some cases be excised from thecombination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asub-combination or variation of a sub-combination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the implementations described above should not beunderstood as requiring such separation in all implementations, and itshould be understood that the described program components and systemsmay generally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

Various embodiments have been described herein with reference to theaccompanying drawings. It will, however, be evident that variousmodifications and changes may be made thereto, and additionalembodiments may be implemented, without departing from the broader scopeof the disclosed embodiments as set forth in the claims that follow.

Further, other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the artfrom consideration of the specification and practice of one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure. It is intended, therefore, thatthis disclosure and the examples herein be considered as exemplary only,with a true scope and spirit of the disclosed embodiments beingindicated by the following listing of exemplary claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, comprising: a display unit; an inputunit; a storage unit storing instructions; and at least one processorcoupled to the display unit, the input unit, and the storage unit, theat least processor being configured to execute the instructions to:display, on the display unit, an interface that includes a firstinterface element and a plurality of second interface elements, thefirst interface element being representative of an obligation and beingdisposed at a first position within the interface, and the secondinterface elements being representative of time periods available forresolving the obligation; receive first input data from the input unitindicative of a selection of the first interface element; receive secondinput data from the input unit indicative of a movement of the selectedfirst interface element from the first position within the interface toa second position within the interface; establish an association betweenthe second position of the selected first interface element and acorresponding one of the second interface elements; receive third inputdata from the input unit indicative of a movement of a third interfaceelement from a third position within the interface to the secondposition, the third interface element being representative of an accountassociated with the device; based on the third input data, establish anassociation between the obligation and the account represented by thethird interface element; perform operations that schedule the obligationfor resolution during the time period represented by the correspondingsecond interface element, the scheduled resolution involving the accountrepresented by the third interface element; and generate and display, onthe display unit, an icon representative of the obligation, the iconhaving a visual characteristic indicative of a relationship between thetime period and a deadline associated with the obligation.
 2. The deviceof claim 1, wherein: the display unit comprises a liquid-crystaldisplay; and the input unit comprises a capacitive overlay disposed ontoa surface of the liquid crystal display.
 3. The device of claim 1,wherein the at least processor is further configured to execute theinstructions to display the first interface element at the secondposition within the interface.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein the atleast processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:obtain data indicative of an event associated with the device, theobtained data identifying a scheduled occurrence of the event; generatea fourth interface element representative of the event; determine that atime period represented by an additional one of the second interfaceelements includes the scheduled occurrence; and display, on the displayunit, the fourth interface element at a position within the interfacethat is proximate to the additional one of the second interface element.5. The device of claim 1, wherein: the time periods correspond tosuccessive time periods available for resolving the obligations; and thedisplayed second interface elements establish a continuous timelinewithin the interface indicative of the successive time periods availablefor resolving the obligations.
 6. The device of claim 1, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to execute the instructionsto: obtain data establishing a boundary of the second interface elementwithin the interface; determine, based on the obtained data, that thesecond position is disposed within a first area of the interfaceenclosed by the established boundary; and in response to thedetermination that the second position is disposed within the firstarea, establish the association between the second position of theselected first interface element and the corresponding second interfaceelement.
 7. The device of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to execute the instructions to: establish a boundaryof the selected first interface element when disposed at the secondposition within the interface; determine that a second area enclosed bythe established boundary of the selected first interface elementcoincides with a portion of the first area; and in response to thedetermination that the second area coincides with a portion of the firstarea, establish the association between the second position of theselected first interface element and the corresponding second interfaceelement.
 8. The device of claim 1, wherein: the obligation correspondsto an invoice generated by a third party; and the resolution correspondsto a transfer of funds from the account associated with the device to anaccount of the third-party.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein: thegenerated icon comprises at least one of a predetermined icon associatedwith the obligation or an icon selected by a user of the device; and theat least processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:display, on the display unit, the first interface element and theplurality of the second interface elements together within a singlescreen of the interface; and display, on the display unit, the generatedicon at the second position within the single screen of the interface.10. The device of claim 1, wherein: the at least processor is furtherconfigured to execute the instructions to display the first interfaceelement at the second position within the interface; and the displayedicon replaces the first interface element at the second position withinthe interface.
 11. The device of claim 1, wherein: the interface furtherincludes a plurality of additional third interface elements, each of theadditional third interface elements being representative of anadditional account associated with the device; and the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: based on the third input data,associate the third interface element and the selected first interfaceelement; and display, on the display unit, the third interface elementat the second position within the interface, the third interface elementobscuring at least a portion of the selected first interface elementwithin the interface.
 12. The device of claim 1, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to: based on the establishedassociation between the obligation and the account, load, from thememory, obligation data that identifies the obligation and account datathat identifies the account; generate scheduling information thatcharacterizes the scheduled resolution of the obligation based on theobligation and account data; and transmit the scheduling information toa computing system, the computing system being configured to resolve theobligation in accordance with the scheduling information.
 13. Acomputer-implemented method, comprising: displaying, by the at least oneprocessor, and on a display unit coupled to the at least one processor,an interface that includes a first interface element and a plurality ofsecond interface elements, the first interface element beingrepresentative of an obligation and being disposed at a first positionwithin the interface, and the second interface elements beingrepresentative of time periods available for resolving the obligation;receiving, by the at least one processor, first input data from an inputunit indicative of a selection of the first interface element;receiving, by the at least one processor, second input data from theinput unit indicative of a movement of the selected first interfaceelement from the first position within the interface to a secondposition within the interface; establishing, by the at least oneprocessor, an association between the second position of the selectedfirst interface element and a corresponding one of the second interfaceelements; receiving, by the at least one processor, third input datafrom the input unit indicative of a movement of a third interfaceelement from a third position within the interface to the secondposition, the third interface element being representative of an accountassociated with the device; based on the third input data, establishing,by the at least one processor, an association between the obligation andthe account represented by the third interface element performing, bythe at least one processor, operations that schedule the obligation forresolution during the time period represented by the correspondingsecond interface element, the scheduled resolution involving the accountrepresented by the third interface element; and by the at least oneprocessor, generating and displaying, on the display unit, an iconrepresentative of the obligation, the icon having a visualcharacteristic indicative of a relationship between the time period anda deadline associated with the obligation.
 14. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 13, further comprising: obtaining data indicative of anevent associated with the device, the obtained data identifying ascheduled occurrence of the event; generating a fourth interface elementrepresentative of the event; determining that a time period representedby an additional one of the second interface elements includes thescheduled occurrence; and displaying, on the display unit, the fourthinterface element at a position within the interface that is proximateto the additional one of the second interface element.
 15. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein: the time periodscorrespond to successive time periods available for resolving theobligations; and the displayed second interface elements establish acontinuous timeline within the interface indicative of the successivetime periods available for resolving the obligations.
 16. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising: obtainingdata establishing a boundary of the second interface element within theinterface; determining, based on the obtained data, that the secondposition is disposed within a first area of the interface enclosed bythe established boundary; and in response to the determination that thesecond position is disposed within the first area, establishing theassociation between the second position of the selected first interfaceelement and the corresponding second interface element.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising:establishing a boundary of the selected first interface element whendisposed at the second position within the interface; determining that asecond area enclosed by the established boundary of the selected firstinterface element coincides with a portion of the first area; and inresponse to the determination that the second area coincides with aportion of the first area, establishing the association between thesecond position of the selected first interface element and thecorresponding second interface element.
 18. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 13, further comprising: displaying, on the display unit,the selected first interface element at the second position within theinterface, wherein: the obligation corresponds to an invoice generatedby a third party; and the resolution corresponds to a transfer of fundsfrom the account associated with the device to an account of thethird-party.
 19. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring instructions that, when executed by at least one processor,perform a method comprising: displaying, on a display unit coupled tothe at least one processor, an interface that includes a first interfaceelement and a plurality of second interface elements, the firstinterface element being representative of an obligation and beingdisposed at a first position within the interface, and the secondinterface elements being representative of time periods available forresolving the obligation; receiving first input data from an input unitindicative of a selection of the first interface element; receivingsecond input data from the input unit indicative of a movement of theselected first interface element from the first position within theinterface to a second position within the interface; establishing anassociation between the second position of the selected first interfaceelement and a corresponding one of the second interface elements;receiving third input data from the input unit indicative of a movementof a third interface element from a third position within the interfaceto the second position, the third interface element being representativeof an account associated with the device; based on the third input data,establishing an association between the obligation and the accountrepresented by the third interface element; performing operations thatschedule the obligation for resolution during the time periodrepresented by the corresponding second interface element, the scheduledresolution involving the account represented by the third interfaceelement; and generating and displaying, on the display unit, an iconrepresentative of the obligation, the icon having a visualcharacteristic indicative of a relationship between the time period anda deadline associated with the obligation.
 20. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 13, wherein: the generated icon comprises at least oneof a predetermined icon associated with the obligation or an iconselected by a user of the device; and displaying the first interfaceelement and the plurality of the second interface elements comprisesdisplaying, on the display unit, the first interface element and theplurality of the second interface elements together within a singlescreen of the interface; and displaying the generated icon comprisesdisplaying, on the display unit, the generated icon at the secondposition within the single screen of the interface.